Almost half way through the year…
Posted on | June 14, 2010 | 6 Comments
EDP article for June 20th 2010
It must be a sign of getting older; I find time seems to be accelerating at an ever faster speed! The first half of the year will have gone forever on Monday 21st at 11.28pm precisely as we celebrate the summer solstice. Let’s hope it’s the portent of warm summer days to come. Non-gardeners are probably wishing the rainy weather would stop and hot days arrive, though for plants this weather is ideal and fabulous for maximum growth. Most of the plants we grow in our gardens dislike cold weather in the growing season especially at night, but they equally dislike heat waves that put many plants under great stress as they lose so much water especially if recently planted as the roots are not established enough to cope. A minimum of 15C (59F) at night with rain and sunny days around 21C (70F) would be perfect! For non-gardeners I suppose 20C (68F) at night and 25-30C (77-86F) would be more apt!
At the moment I am sitting in the lower part of the garden writing on my laptop enjoying being surrounded by plants for inspiration and of course with several of my cats playing close by, much to the annoyance of a blackbird nesting in one of the hedges nearby. The late spring air is saturated with the overpowering scent of a rather large Holboellia coriacea, covering a pergola close by – a delightful introduction by Ernest Wilson in 1907 from central China. It is a vigorous evergreen woody vine with thick glossy dark green trifoliate leaves which produces clusters of fragrant greenish-white to pale pink bell flowers in spring from April to late June followed by plum sized edible purple fruit in the autumn. The foliage tends to cover the flowers – hidden gems amongst the foliage. It’s a lot hardier than some people give it credit for as it survived our low winter temperatures well.
One plant that is grabbing my attention is a Dahlia new to the garden this year named ‘Karma Chocolate’, a delightful Dahlia growing to about 90cm (3ft) tall. Everything about the plant is dark; the foliage is rich purple-bronze in colour, the stems are reddish-black and the elegant 12.5cm (5in) water-lily flowers open in a deep Bourneville chocolate colour, maturing to deep black-tinted crimson – very enchanting indeed. I have planted a group in front of the imposing dark leaved Canna ‘General Eisenhower’, which will grow to around 120-150cm (4ft -5ft) by high summer with showy bright red flowers. In contrast at the front of the border is a planting of Persicaria virginiana ‘Painters Pallet’, with leaves mottled with blotches of cream, light green, pink and maroon, with many of the leaves displaying a distinct maroon chevron. In mid to late summer the plant produces dainty, almost insignificant spikes of small scarlet flowers.
Close to where I am sitting is a mature clump of the well known herbaceous perennial Tradescantia virginiana (Virginia spiderwort), a species of Tradescantia (spiderwort) native to the eastern United States. It is an excellent late spring flowering plant with bright green strap-like leaves topped with purple flowers, which can also be found in alluring shades of blue and white. It grows to about 60cm (2ft) tall – unfortunately the whole plant is rather lax in habit and tends to fall over in wet weather, hence it needs staking well.
Under a now rather large Tetrapanax papiferus (Rice paper plant) I have planted a group of three Alocasia odora – an Aroid that hails from South-Eastern Asia – In Taiwan this is a common species in primary and secondary rain forest from almost sea-level to over 2000m (6000ft) elevation, hence grows fairly well if our summer is warm enough especially at night – we shall see! In past summers the glossy apple-green, upright leaves have grown to around 60 x75 (2ft x 1ft 6ins) across on long stalks.
These have been surrounded with a group of Colocasia esculenta ‘Mammoth’ which takes our cool summers well; having produced large dark bluish-green leaves up to 90 x 60cm (3ft x 2ft) across by late summer in past years. Unfortunately these two monster Aroids are not hardy, so have to be dug up in October and overwintered at around 5C (41F), but well worth all the effort for such a magnificent display of Tropicana! The winter past was a severe test for the common house plant Tradescantia fluminensis (Wandering Jew), a close relative of Tradescantia virginiana, which has come through with flying colours and is now officially a weed in the garden!
If you like Geranium maderense, but can’t grow it because it’s frost tender, Geranium palmatum is an equally attractive alternative that self sows freely at the Exotic Garden and is now in full flower. This seductive short-lived perennial has long stems and finely divided mid-green leaves up to 35cm (14ins) across. The flowers are saucer-shaped, five-petalled, pinkish purple up to 4cm (1 ½ins) across on large terminal heads up to 60cm (24ft) across. The flower stems are rather sticky when touched as the stems are covered in purple glandular hairs. This is a beautiful geranium that deserves to be more widely grown.
In the Xerophytic garden the colours are dazzling with self sown Escholzia Californica with their intense, almost day-glow orange flower on top of feathery glaucous blue-green foliage, which contrast well with spiky agaves and towering Trichocereus species. Many of the sprawling succulent Lampranthus are now in full bloom in shades of pink, white orange and red.
I love this time of year when everything is on the edge of exploding into full summer glory, let’s hope the summer is a good one!
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6 Responses to “Almost half way through the year…”
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June 15th, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
One day I’ll come to visit you and your garden. Inevitable.
June 15th, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
I look forward to that day Oguz…
June 15th, 2010 @ 11:08 pm
Fingers crossed that the real summer is yet to come – beautiful blog – inspirational!
June 16th, 2010 @ 10:58 pm
Debbie – I do hope it warms up over the next few months – I don’t relish sliding back into frigid winter again!
July 3rd, 2010 @ 3:30 am
Great detailed information, I just bookmarked you on my google reader.
Sent from my iPhone 4G
July 5th, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Hayabusa brother – thanks for the comment…